Gibbons P.C. has long been known around the state and around the country for its white-collar defense and investigations practice.
Those efforts are now getting bigger and better.
On Thursday, Gibbons announced that it is reestablishing the White Collar Defense & Investigations Group as standalone practice and that it is bringing in Ricardo Solano Jr. — a highly regarded attorney who had previous stints at the firm — to be a co-chair. (The group had previously been operating under the administrative umbrella of the firm’s Commercial & Criminal Litigation Group.)
Gibbons Managing Director Peter Torcicollo said the realignment accommodates the increasing volume, breadth, complexity and importance of the often high-profile and precedent-setting matters the White Collar Defense & Investigations Group undertakes, not only in New Jersey, but throughout the region and nationally.
By spinning off the practice into a full-fledged legal department, Torcicollo said Gibbons will be able to provide its white-collar defense attorneys the administrative infrastructure and management resources they need to support a practice that is expanding in size and significance to the firm and its clients.
The return of Solano, the well-known, highly regarded leader in the white-collar defense space in New Jersey who previously served in both the United States Attorney’s Office and the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, is and added bonus in the move.
“It’s a bit of a ‘Back to the Future’ moment for us here at Gibbons, and we’re thrilled to have Ricardo back as we restructure our litigation practices to reestablish the firm’s White Collar Defense and Investigations practice,” Torcicollo said. “He will play a vital leadership role and further enhance the firm’s outstanding reputation in this area, positioning Gibbons to expand the practice’s scope, reach and talent bench.”
Solano will co-chair the practice with longtime Gibbons attorney Lawrence Lustberg, one of the most well-respected and senior criminal defense attorneys in New Jersey and beyond and a nationally recognized authority in constitutional and criminal law and procedure, who has been responsible for many seminal federal and state court decisions in a broad range of cases.
“I could not be more thrilled that Ricardo is returning to Gibbons, and there is no one I trust more, in combination with our other outstanding attorneys, to carry into the future the practice we have worked so hard to build,” Lustberg said. “I look forward to working with Ricardo, and ultimately to entrusting this extraordinary group to his demonstrated skills, experience, and leadership.”
Gibbons Executive Chairman Patrick Dunican applauded the return of Solano — and the group to a standalone practice, as it had been once before.
“With the wealth of experience he brings back to Gibbons, Ricardo will undoubtedly be a tremendous asset to our new practice group,” he said. “We can think of no one more qualified to help lead us in this endeavor.”
